


espresso macchiato with soy milk, six shots

by anzu_baek



Category: ITZY (Band), IZONE (Band), NCT (Band), Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: A little angst, Alternate Universe - College/University, Cafe Job, Café, Cliche, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, NCT Dream Ensemble-centric, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Abuse, chenle and jisung appear chapter 5, mentions of past rape, super fluffy, you and Yeri are best friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:02:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23647405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anzu_baek/pseuds/anzu_baek
Summary: Y/N didn't expect to make 8 new friends after her first day of uni. But when Yeri was her best friend, anything was possible.A fic where Y/N meets Na Jaemin thanks to her best friend's crush on his best friend and the two find that they have a lot more in common than they originally thought.
Relationships: Choi Jisu | Lia/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Hwang Yeji/Lee Jeno, Kim Chaewon (IZONE)/Huang Ren Jun, Kim Yerim | Yeri/Mark Lee (NCT), Na Jaemin/Reader
Comments: 5
Kudos: 24





	1. when she met the boy with pink hair

**Author's Note:**

> I've been thinking about Jaemin and his pink hair way too often recently so I decided to do something productive out of it and here's the result ! 
> 
> I have a very VERY loose story line planned so I'm excited to see where this will go.
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading !!!

Clear blue skies, sun shining brightly. It all seemed a little too cliche for a first day of university, not that Y/N was complaining. Some people rushed about in search of their classes, while others took their time as they chatted away with friends. Y/N fell into the latter category, admiring the overall large size of the campus as her best friend since high school, Yeri, chatted away next to her about whether or not she would be able to meet any cute guys today. 

It takes her a few steps to realise that said best friend had stopped walking by her side. Y/N turns around to see why she stopped so suddenly but she cut her off before she could even form a syllable. 

“Cute boys, 2 o’ clock” Yeri harshly whispers, face dead serious. Y/N gives her the biggest ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ look, then subtly looks to her left in the direction her friend was looking to see five boys all gathered together and chatting amongst themselves. You turn back round and let out a laugh just short of a bark.

“You’re unbelievable, Yeri.” Y/N shakes her head in amusement. In return Yeri shoots the most offended look, before giggling along with her. 

“I’m serious, Y/N. The boy with the black hair, he looks so good!” Yeri waves her arms in front of her as if she is completely mind-boggled that her friend is not freaking out like she is right now, desperately trying to get her point across. Y/N looks back to where the boys are and she notices who Yeri was talking about instantly. He’s the only one who appears to not have their hair dyed. She then catches sight of the boy over his left shoulder, the one with the pink hair. She had to admit that he looks like he could be a model. He begins to turn his head towards them and she quickly looks away in fear of making eye contact. Yeri notices her panicked expression and smirks.

“You better not be going after my man” she pokes her shoulder with a laugh. 

“Your man?” Y/N gives her a side eye with a smirk of her own. 

“Yup. I’m going to find out who that boy is and he will be mine” Yeri declares, sending a wink her way. Y/N rolls your eyes before looking back at the group of boys, only to notice that the same pink haired boy she just saw was looking right back at her. She quickly snaps her head away, an old memory flashing in her mind. She’s praying Yeri didn’t notice what had just occurred and she glances over to see her friend muttering about how she will definitely get this boy to like her. She breathes a sigh of relief, not wanting to worry her friend. She reaches and grabs Yeri’s hand before dragging her along towards the building where Y/N will have her first lecture, ignoring the protesting behind her. 

They both reach the room where Y/N’s lecture will be held. Yeri will be in a different room as she will be studying music and performing. She, on the other hand, will be studying literature. 

“See you at lunch, Y/N” Yeri gives her a big hug in which was returned. They bid their goodbyes and Yeri turns and walks to the direction of her class. Y/N watches her a few seconds longer as she disappears into the crowd. She then turns her head towards the door of the lecture room, and pushes away any fears she has before she decides to run away. She takes one step, and another, and she finally makes it through the door into a large lecture room with rows and rows of seats. Her mouth drops slightly in awe. 

Quickly composing herself she looks around for a seat, knowing it would most likely be her seat for the entire year. She’s ten minutes early, but a bit over half of the seats are already filled up. Her eyes zero in on a particular seat and she instantly makes a beeline for it. It’s about halfway back, towards the side of the entrance. Not too close to the front, but not so far up the back that she wouldn’t hear what was being said. A couple minutes after she sat down she hears some ruffling beside her. She looks over to see a shy-looking girl with long auburn hair and bangs. She hesitates about sitting but Y/N is quick to give her an encouraging nod, earning a big, genuine smile in return. The girl sits in the seat to her right.

“Thank you for letting me sit here, my name is Chaewon. It’s nice to meet you!” Chaewon introduces herself with the same infectious smile, making Y/N mirror the same smile back.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she laughs. “It’s nice to meet you too, my name’s Y/N. It’d be awesome if we could become friends!” she greets her, deciding there wasn’t a better time than this to make a new friend. They both giggle, anticipating how this could be the beginning of beautiful friendship. 

Y/N chats with Chaewon for the remainder of the time before the professor arrives. They talk about simple things such as family, hobbies and favourite literature novels. Y/N was so absorbed in the conversation that she didn't notice a certain pink haired boy walk past with a blonde haired boy right behind him and sit in the same row as them, only further across the room. 

The door opens abruptly, and a man who she assumes to be the professor walks to the front of the room, only to begin the lecture right away. Y/N pays attention to most of what the professor talks about and takes notes where possible, but her attention span had never been her strongest point. She looks around the room and observes her surroundings, those surroundings being people. It’s not long before she spots a familiar mop of pink down the same row as herself. With such a colour Y/N couldn’t believe she didn’t see him walk in. To say she’s surprised is an understatement. She could see his face better here than she could outside so she takes this opportunity to properly look at him and his features. Fear is underlying her sudden curiosity about this boy, and she tries to ignore that fear. It isn’t until she feels a tap on her shoulder that Y/N catches herself staring at the boy. She whips her head around to see Chaewon with an odd expression. It’s like a half worried, half amused face.

“All good Y/N?” she asks kindly. She nods her head quickly and her face heats up at the fact that she’s been caught staring at handsome boys in her very first lecture. Her eyes widen slightly as she realises that she acknowledged the pink haired boy as handsome, and she dares to sneak another glance. Chaewon looks in that same direction, noticing the two boys that had to be what Y/N was staring at. She herself could definitely understand why Y/N was staring, they were both gorgeous despite being dressed so casually. Chaewon found herself staring at the blonde boy for what seemed a little too long, and she returns her attention to the professor and pays attention for the rest of the class. Y/N decides to do the same just in case she misses any important information.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After their first classes finish, Y/N and Chaewon make their way towards the cafe that Yeri and Y/N agreed to meet at. She tells Chaewon about her best friend and that she couldn’t wait to introduce her. Chaewon seems equally excited to meet another new friend. She explains that none of her friends attend the same uni, let alone study literature like the two of them. Because of this, Chaewon is glad she met Y/N so quickly. 

This makes Y/N really excited because she knows she will be able to become really good friends with Chaewon and that Chaewon can also become great friends with Yeri.

Just as Y/N thinks about this, they walk into the cafe where she almost instantly spots familiar light brown hair that could belong to no one but her best friend. Yeri is waving so hard that Y/N is worried her arm might break off. Y/N waves back and guides Chaewon over to the table. She notices that Yeri is sitting with two other girls, which makes her smile as she knew Yeri would make a new friend right away. She comes up and gives Y/N a big hug.

“Y/N! I missed you so much!” Yeri tells her dramatically, making her laugh. 

“It’s only been a few hours Yeri!” Y/N shakes her head. “But I missed you too.” She says, returning her hug. After a few seconds she pulls away so that she and Chaewon can sit down at the 6 seat table. Y/N sits on one end facing Yeri, with Chaewon to her left in the middle while both of Yeri’s new friends sit across and adjacent from Chaewon. 

“Looks like everyone made a new friend already” Yeri smiles. Y/N knows how much friendship means to Yeri. Not just because she’s extremely social, but she believes making memories and forming bonds with others is really important. Y/N also believes this, but has never been as social as Yeri. That is why she is extremely grateful to have met Chaewon. 

“Let’s go around in a circle and introduce ourselves!” Yeri says with a grin. Everyone nods in agreement, also excited to get to know each other.

“I’ll start,” Yeri announces. “My name is Kim Yerim, but I like to be called Yeri. Y/N and myself have been best friends since high school, we’re lucky that we were able to go to the same uni. I’m studying music - particularly songwriting. I hope that we can all become great friends!” The group gives mini-applause for Yeri’s introduction. 

The girl next to Yeri stands up as Yeri sits back down, making Y/N smile at the formality of all this. The girl has dark brown hair and a fierce look which would have been intimidating if her look didn’t melt away completely as soon as she smiled.

“My name is Choi Jisu, but please call me Lia. I’m also studying music - specifically singing and dancing. I’ve known Yeji since we were really little, and we’re both excited to meet new friends.” Lia gestures to a girl to her right with black hair. Y/N works out that it must be Yeji.

Yeji stands up. Like Lia, Yeji also has sharp features that soften when she smiles, her eyes crinkling at the corners. 

“My name’s Yeji. I’m studying music too, specifically dance. Like Lia said, we’ve been best friends for a really long time and are also lucky that we could go to the same uni. Let’s all become great friends.” She ends with the same smile she started with and sits back down.

Chaewon stands up next with a nervous smile. “My name is Chaewon, I’m studying literature with Y/N. All of my high school friends attend different unis, I’m lucky I met Y/N in lit and I hope that we can all make amazing memories together.” Chaewon sits down smiling to herself. Yeri is almost crying over Chaewon’s cuteness.

“Yes! Let’s make the best memories together,” she gets up to give Chaewon a hug. Y/N laughs and stands up.

“My name is Y/N. I’m studying literature and I’ve been friends with Yeri since high school. Today I met Chaewon, Lia and Yeji. Let’s all become great friends,” she announces with a big grin. Everyone smiles and nods in agreement.

Lunch continues as everyone talks about random topics: first impressions of uni, parties, and families. Y/N notices how quickly they are all becoming accustomed to each other. It was quick - even by first year students’ standard of trying to find your circles as soon as possible. It isn’t long before the topic Y/N has been expecting from Yeri comes up in conversation.

“Y/N! You will not believe this-” Yeri starts. “Oh boy here we go,” she cuts her off with an exasperated sigh, making the other three laugh. 

“Hey, I’m serious!” Yeri puffs out her cheeks, making her look extra cute. “The boy with the black hair was in our class today!” Y/N gives her the most surprised unsurprised face she can muster before sarcastically saying, “oh my god, no way.” Everyone laughs again and Yeri’s cheeks puff out even more, if that was even possible. 

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry” she giggles. “Do you know the boy’s name yet?” Yeri’s eyes light up as she starts to explain everything to her. 

As it turns out, Yeri, Lia and Yeji’s classes included a lot more ice-breaker activities while the lit lecture had jumped straight into things. Y/N supposed with music there would be a lot more group work compared to her subject. 

“That’s not all!” Yeri half shouts, making some of the people around you look towards your table. Y/N shrinks into her seat, face heating up in embarrassment as Yeji decides to take over. 

“So the music class is massive because there are so many different aspects - singing, dancing, songwriting and producing. Everyone is brought together so that projects are similar to what we will be doing in the industry after school.” Yeji explains. 

Lia continues, “Because of this, we will be doing group projects very frequently as that is what we should expect in the future. Today we were already assigned a project. Because the class is so big we were told to form groups of 6-”

“And guess who we’re grouped with?!” Yeri cuts Lia off, making Lia stifle her laugh. When it dawns on Y/N her eyes widen in disbelief. Yeri grabs her hands before whisper-screaming, “Yes! We’re with him and two of the other boys!” She is still convinced that today is just a little too cliche and a little less, normal. But she’s happy for Yeri as she seems to really like this boy despite barely knowing him. 

Chaewon looks extremely lost right now so Y/N decides to explain.

“Basically before our lecture Yeri and I were outside and she saw a group of five boys that look like they could all be in an idol group. Yeri likes one of them and actually declared about how she would capture his heart.” She laughs. 

Yeri continues, “The one I like, his name is Mark. He’s SO much cuter up close” she says, almost drooling. Y/N makes fun of her for sounding like a creep. She then notices someone come up behind Yeri and her eyes widen. Yeri sees this just as she feels a tap on her shoulder. She turns around and screams when she sees who it is, making the person laugh when she draws the attention of pretty much the whole cafe. Y/N almost wishes she wasn’t here right now, but she was used to Yeri’s natural skill of turning heads - whether it be because of her absolutely stunning looks or because she’s being an idiot. 

“Hey Yeri.” Mark greets with a smile, bringing Yeri out of her initial shock. “Hey Mark, what’s up?” Yeri greets back, as if she didn’t just blow everyone’s eardrums with her scream. She’ll never not be amazed at how quickly Yeri can recover from an awkward moment. Probably because they happen so often. 

She makes eye contact with Chaewon and she’s giving you a look that asks, “Is this that Mark?” Y/N nods back. She knew they could both read each other’s minds when she thinks about how weird the situation is and Chaewon’s expression mirrors her own. It’s only now that she notices the four other boys, making her tense when she sees the same pink haired boy that she’d been seeing all morning.

“I see you guys have a few more friends,” he says nodding towards Y/N and Chaewon while talking to Yeri, Lia and Yeji in an attempt to strike up a casual conversation. 

“You guys too,” Lia points out the pink and blonde haired boys from literature class. Y/N makes eye contact with pink hair once again, but this time she smiles and gets a pleasant surprise when he smiles back. Chaewon and the blonde boy also acknowledge each other with smiles of their own. 

“Yeah, we’re really keen to make this music project the best one, so I was thinking we should all get to know each other better…” Mark trails off, all nervous making him look very cute. Y/N watches with a knowing smile, having experienced boys and girls getting nervous in front of Yeri countless times. Yeri’s beauty is otherworldly, but she has never let that get to her head and has remained by Y/N’s side, which she is grateful for. 

Yeri’s eyes light up and she agrees probably a little too quickly, before realising she probably needs to check with everyone else. 

“You should all come along, if you’d like” Mark adds, referring to Y/N and Chaewon.

“I think it’s a great idea!” Yeji pipes in, before looking over to the literature pair. “Are you cool with that? You don’t have to.” The two look at each other thinking the exact same thing before turning back and agreeing to join. Yeri looks at them both before thinking out loud, “Chaewon and Y/N are already so close even though they just met today.” The boys look at Yeri in disbelief.

“You both could’ve easily fooled us thinking you’d known each other before,” Lia smiles, everyone agreeing. 

“It does feel like we’ve known each other for a long time already,” Y/N laughs. Chaewon agrees, joining in on the laughter. Y/N don’t notice the pink haired boy staring at her laughing face with a similar curiosity and underlying fear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The boys take the group to an empty practice music room they stumbled upon earlier where students were allowed to come and go as they pleased. Everyone sat in the chairs around the somewhat small room, kind of arranged in a circle. Y/N sat in between Chaewon and Yeri, with Chaewon on her right and Yeri on her left. Left of Yeri was Mark (which Y/N knew she’d be ecstatic about), left of him was the pink haired boy followed by the blonde haired and the other two boys who both have brown hair. Right of Chaewon was Yeji and then Lia. 

Y/N once again realised how ridiculously cliche this was before remembering her best friend is Yeri. Yeri - the epitome of a cliche romantic.

“Okay so I’m Yeri and as most here know I’m in music. This is Yeji and Lia who are best friends and are also in music with us.” Yeri explains. “This is my best friend Y/N who I’ve known since high school, and this is Chaewon who is in literature with Y/N.” She smiles at her new group. 

Mark then begins, “Well obviously I’ve met Yeri, Lia and Yeji already. It’s good to meet you Chaewon and Y/N. I’m Mark” he greets. He then points to the two brown haired boys, introducing the one next to Lia as Haechan and the one next to him as Jeno. “This blonde haired nerd is Renjun,” Mark earns a slap on the arm from Renjun before he continues, “and the pink haired nerd is Jaemin.” A small wave of butterflies wash over Y/N as she hears his name for the first time.

‘Jaemin definitely suits him,’ she thinks, and those butterflies turn into unease when she realises what she just thought. When she looks over at him, he’s already looking at her, making that uneasiness more noticable. Chaewon looks at Y/N like she’s just figured something out. Chaewon isn’t the only one as both Mark and Yeri see the exchange and look at each other with knowing looks. 

Like before, everyone talks and tries to get to know one another better. Y/N learnt that Mark is Canadian and likes to rap. Renjun is Chinese and also likes to sing when he isn’t reading. Jeno loves performing and likes to drink chocolate milk, which made everyone laugh. Haechan loves to sing and dance, and she figured out quickly that him and Yeri would both become the mood makers of this big group, as he was very good at making sure no one was left out. She finds out that Jaemin also likes to dance but really enjoys reading books and has a big interest in literature. 

Before they knew it, it was mid afternoon and they all decided they should head back to their own dorm rooms. Yeri and Haechan look at everyone in disbelief. 

“Have you forgotten?” Haechan all but whines. Yeri joins in, “Yeah, Y/N! We agreed to go to a party tonight!” Haechan gives Yeri a high-five for being so in sync. 

“We were? I don’t remember agreeing to that,” she looks at your best friend. 

“Tonight is the perfect night for partying!” Haechan goes on. “First night is the night everyone goes out and we can’t miss out!” he explains waving his arms, looking very similar as a certain crazy best friend. Haechan turns towards Lia before pulling his best puppy dog eyes. 

“Lia, you want to go have a fun time with all our friends right?” he pleads, just short of grabbing her hands. Y/N doesn’t miss this, just like she doesn't miss Lia’s slightly flustered expression. 

“O-of course!” Lia says before turning to the other girls. “Let’s go, I think it’ll be fun!” 

‘That didn’t take much convincing’ Y/N laughs to herself. The others all agree, as do the boys. Looks like it was decided. They all say goodbye for now and head out and to their respective dorms. 

Y/N knew then that her first day of uni had really only just started.


	2. when yeri reveals the past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 2 ! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it :D

Y/N learns that Yeji and Lia share a room while Yeri and herself had decided to live together the moment they discovered they would both be attending the same university. Chaewon on the other hand, is roomed with a girl none of the group knows but Chaewon says she is very kind. 

It is almost 4pm, so everyone agrees to meet up in a few hours at her and Yeri’s room. Yeri makes sure to grab the other girls’ contacts so she can create a group chat. They soon return to the room where Yeri whips her phone out immediately and types away quickly. 

It’s not long before Y/N hears her phone ping a few times in a row followed by another ping seconds after. She checks her phone to see she had been added to two group chats, one with all the girls and another with the girls and the boys.

The bigger of the group chats becomes active instantly, filling with mostly Yeri and Haechan talking about their excitement for that night. Both Mark and Lia join in frequently too. 

Y/N decides to focus on getting ready so she searches through the clothes she brought with her. She chooses blue baggy ripped jeans with a spaghetti strap rainbow striped crop top, white platform sneakers and finishes it off with a black belt. She brushes out her long hair and puts it up in a high ponytail and adds a little bit of makeup, not wanting to go overboard. Y/N wanted to go for a cute but casual look. 

Realising that she was mostly ready already, she checks her phone and sees it was still a while until they would meet up. She lies on her bed and checks the group chat. 

Yeriii<3: the song should have a catchy chorus as well as rap

mork: it will definitely have rap

Lee Haechan: agreed

HoneyLia: me too!

Y/N smiles in amusement, impressed that they all agree so quickly. Her phone pings with a message from Chaewon.

FairyChae: jaemin?

Y/N blinked as she stared at one word, one name. She bites her bottom lip before texting back a reply.

N/N: what about jaemin??

FairyChae: don’t think i didn’t see you during the lecture ;)

Her heart stops for a second as she thought she hadn’t been caught by anyone just yet. Clearly she was wrong and so very obvious. She resists the urge to facepalm as she definitely DIDN’T need Yeri knowing. Y/N huffs before picking up her phone again, no point in lying to her.

N/N: he’s attractive okay? I’ll admit it

FairyChae: do you like him?

N/N: i barely know him! i’m not yeri :P

FairyChae: haha, okay. you might know him better after tonight :o

She looks at the text and decides she definitely wasn’t replying to that last one. 

After playing around on her phone Y/N realises it was already a half hour before meetup time. She looks over to see Yeri still in her clothes from today and nowhere near ready for tonight. Y/N figures that she’s probably been talking to Mark privately, judging by the fact that the group chat has been dead for ages and by the dumb expression on her face right now. 

“Yeri, I thought you wanted to go out tonight?” she asks her with a smirk. Yeri looks at her with a confused face and checks the time on her phone. Her eyes widen as she bolts up straight and rushes over to her clothes, dramatically throwing things everywhere. 

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Yeri whines, frantically putting on her outfit - a white shirt tied at the front and a blue denim skirt with white shoes. 

“You looked like you were having a great time talking to Mark,” Y/N winks at her, watching as Yeri’s face goes beet red at the accurate accusation. She sticks her tongue out before returning to her rush to get ready. Y/N’s eyes pop out of her head when minutes later she sees Yeri come out of the bathroom completely ready - hair AND makeup. Her skills amazed her everyday, especially when she does things that are literally impossible. 

“We should ask everyone to come round now,” Yeri suggests. Y/N agrees since she was also completely ready and currently bored out of her brains. She nods, hearing a ping and checking the group chat.

Yeriii<3: Anyone ready and wanna meet up now? Y/N and I are BORED

mork: me and renjun are, the others are still getting ready.

FairyChae: i’m also ready :)

Yeriii<3: cool! You can all come round to our room if you want?

mork: sounds good, see you soon

FairyChae: be there soon :)

Y/N feels herself deflate slightly when she sees that Jaemin isn’t coming yet. Her newfound attraction to the boy makes her feel slightly sick with apprehension, which she also finds disappointing since he really seems like a nice guy. What Y/N didn’t know was that the same guy also has the exact same thoughts when he thinks about her.

They hear a knock at the door and know it must be Chaewon. The auburn haired girl is wearing a cute red crop top with blue jeans and white shoes. Yeri and Y/N both greet her with hugs, excited to see their new friend. She hugs back, just as excited. 

The trio were talking about how the day has already been so eventful when Y/N hears another knock on the door and goes to open it excitedly as she was expecting it to be Mark and Renjun. What she didn’t expect was to come face to face with none other than Jaemin. Y/N let out a little noise in surprise. He smiles at her, amused.

“Hey Y/N,” he greets in a low voice that gives Y/N a slight chill. She snaps herself out of her little daze and smiles back at him.

“Hi Jaemin, you got ready quickly!” she says, referring to how he said he wasn’t coming just yet originally. Mark coughs behind him.

“Oh my god you have no idea, once we told him-,” Jaemin cuts him off by kicking him, and Y/N watches in surprise, leaving her wondering what Mark was gonna say. Her thoughts are paused momentarily when Yeri lets out a frustrated noise and they all look to see what the issue is.

“I didn’t even think about alcohol!” Yeri half shouts, stressing that she might not get to drink, which will totally ruin the night. Renjun’s words are what stop Yeri’s stress.

“Don’t worry, we got you covered!” he says from the back, and all three boys take that as their cue and walk in and take off the backpacks on all their backs to reveal alcohol in each bag. Y/N’s eyes widen for the umpteenth time as she sees how Yeri’s face lights up and she looks like she wants to cry out of joy. 

“You guys are absolute lifesavers!” Yeri rushes over to Mark holding her hand out expectantly, wanting to start immediately. Y/N and Chaewon laugh at how silly and dramatic their friend is. Mark passes her a drink, their hands touch as she grabs the bottle and they pause for a little too long, stuck in their moment. Y/N looks over and catches Jaemin’s eye with a smile and an eye roll. He laughs at her reaction, making her heart flutter a little, unbeknownst to him. 

Soon enough they hear another knock at the door. Renjun opens it to find Yeji and Lia, Jeno and Haechan all ready to go. The boys pick up their backpacks and they all head out as Haechan begins hyping everyone up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The group walk up to one of the big dorm houses, party clearly in full swing already - judging by the flashing lights coming from windows and the loud bass that makes it feel like the ground is shaking. 

Jaemin watches as Yeri rushes forward as if every second that passes is an extra second she can spend partying, which was probably true. Haechan drags Lia with him, along with Jeno and Yeji. Mark disappeared with Yeri to no one’s surprise. Jaemin shares an unsurprised look with Renjun over their friends’ typical actions. 

Not that he liked admitting the existence of stereotypes but he can’t help noticing the music majors in their group are slightly more, boisterous? Enthusiastic? Before Jaemin can ponder his thoughts any longer Y/N and Chaewon start to make their way through the door, and the boys follow right behind them. 

The first thing Jaemin thinks when they enter the dorm house was how many people there were. The place was filled with loud music, sweating bodies dancing everywhere. He cringes a little as this is definitely not his preferred environment, but he was looking forward to letting loose a little.

Jaemin remembers about the weight in his backpack and decides there isn’t a better time to start. He pulls out two drinks - one to give Y/N. Jaemin taps her shoulder and offers her the drink. She takes it with a small ‘thank you’, looking down at the drink with a nervous smile. Jaemin smiles in return, pushing down some slight unease. He also sees Renjun giving a drink to Chaewon, making his smile grow wider as he knows that Renjun has taken an interest to the auburn haired girl.

Chaewon pulls Y/N by the hand into the midst of the dancing and they both join in. Jaemin watches and decides him and Renjun should join in but just as he starts to move, someone grabs him by the hand. When he turns around he sees a girl that is clearly already so drunk, grabbing at him. She’s wearing a skin tight dress and has a face full of makeup. The state she’s in makes Jaemin cringe and his anxiety spikes. He tries his best to pry her hands off of him but she refuses to let go. He starts to sweat profusely. He desperately looks around for Renjun or any of the guys but can’t see them anywhere. His breath became shallow, as he feels that he is losing control over the situation.

‘Please please please, anyone,’ Jaemin blinks, actions becoming frantic. But right at that moment he makes eye contact with Y/N through a gap between people and he sends her a desperate look. Jaemin watches impatiently as Y/N makes her way over to him. She puts an arm around his waist and gives the girl a little push to tell her to get off of him. Jaemin tenses when he feels her arm but tries his best to act normal and put an arm around Y/N, which he finds surprisingly comforting. It looks like the message finally got into her head because the girl gives Y/N a glare before storming away, talking about how much prettier she was. Jaemin sighs as the girl has herself all over another guy in seconds.

Jaemin looks down at Y/N before thanking her. “Thanks a lot Y/N, that was a big help,” he tries his hardest to smile a genuine smile since he was truly grateful. Y/N swallows nervously and tries to compose herself. She notices how tall he is next to her.

About six inches, she observes. 

“It was no problem, Jaemin! I don’t want you to be feeling uncomfortable when we’re meant to be enjoying ourselves,” Y/N tells him, unbeknown to the extent of uncomfortable Jaemin actually experienced. It was then that they both realised the position they were still in and the pair pull away with a jump, laughing sheepishly. Jaemin stares at Y/N, lost in how nice her laugh sounds, finding it relaxing as he comes down from his earlier panic. He looks away before she notices. 

They find Renjun and Chaewon together and stick with them, enjoying the rest of the night without any more issues. Jaemin tries his best to relax and enjoy himself. 

At some point the group finds Lia and Yeji with Haechan and Jeno and hangs out with them until the early hours of the morning before they all decide it was probably best to turn in for the night. 

Y/N thinks it’s amazing how close everyone has become already, while Jaemin was surprised that none of his friends - especially Haechan - got drunk. He guessed they all thought the same thing, that getting blackout drunk on the first night of uni probably wasn't the best idea. Everyone was just out of the door when they hear Y/N call behind them, “Maybe I should wait for Yeri,” Y/N says, swinging on the balls of her feet. Jaemin scrunches his face slightly, knowing she definitely shouldn’t be waiting on her own.

“Jaemin, you should stay and make sure the girls and Mark get back safely,” Renjun suggests to the boy. Jaemin snaps his head around to see Renjun giving him a smile with a knowing look. He’d noticed Jaemin’s attraction towards Y/N after all.

“Oh you don’t need to-,” 

“Yeah I’ll do it,” Jaemin cuts Y/N off and turns to give her a reassuring smile. The others take that as their cue to leave.

Jaemin and Y/N say goodbye to the others as they watch them disappear round the corner to their own dorms. Jaemin turns to Y/N as she pulls out her phone.

“I’m just gonna message Yeri and see what the go is. But knowing her she’ll probably be very drunk and won’t answer,” Jaemin gives an amused smile as he can already tell what can be counted as ‘typical Yeri behaviour’.

“I’ll call Mark, by the sounds of it we’ll have more luck with him,” Jaemin says, already putting his phone up to his ear. It’s only a couple of rings before he picks up, the same music they can hear from the house blasting through the phone speaker.

“Hey man, what’s up?” Jaemin can barely hear Mark say, his voice drowned by loud singing that sounds very much like Yeri’s voice. Judging by Y/N’s unimpressed expression, he knows she heard her too.

“Not much, the others went back and me and Y/N were wondering what’s happening with you guys right now?” Jaemin says before he hears Mark start coughing.

“W-with us?” Mark stutters and Jaemin rolls his eyes at his best friend.

“Yes, you guys. When do you wanna go?” Jaemin asks with an exasperated sigh. 

“Ohhhh,” Mark drags out, sounding like he’s also had a bit to drink. “Yeah yeah, um, give us 10?” Just after he says this Jaemin hears Yeri in the background complain about how she doesn’t want to leave.

“Okay, we’ll be waiting outside,” Jaemin hangs up after hearing a confirmation from Mark, and then turns to Y/N. 

“10 minutes could be another hour. Did you want to go back inside?” Jaemin asks as he sees Y/N’s shivering figure. She shakes her head and tells him she prefers the fresh air. Jaemin nods and looks around, noticing a bench across the road. He hesitantly grabs her hand and pulls her over to sit down so they don’t have to stand in the cold for god knows how long.

They both sit quietly and awkwardly, a few inches between them, barely exchanging a single word. Jaemin looks up at the clear night sky, marvelling at the large number of stars present tonight. Y/N watches him as he looks up, but she interrupts herself with a yawn, making Jaemin look back at her. Y/N turns away, ducking her head in embarrassment. Jaemin chuckles, making her snap her head up in question. Jaemin scratches his nose as pink lightly dusts his cheeks. 

“If you’re tired, you should rest while we’re waiting,” Jaemin murmurs, not taking his eyes off of her. Y/N nods her head sleepily as she leans back in an attempt to get comfortable. Jaemin watches as he has an internal battle with himself.

A couple minutes later Y/N is still squirming and Jaemin has had enough. The remnants of the alcohol gives him some newfound confidence as he wraps his arm around her shoulder and pulls her down gently to lean on his own shoulder. She lets out a little squeak as her head collides softly with his shoulder. Y/N instantly warms up from Jaemin’s body heat, and she scoots a little closer to him before closing her eyes. Jaemin ignores his fears completely and basks in the warmth, blush remaining prominent.

It isn’t too long before he hears Y/N’s breathing even out, indicating that she’d fallen asleep. He opts for keeping his arm around her. 

‘I’m just keeping Y/N warm’ he tells himself, which was true. He tries his best to stay awake but soon feels sleep take over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mark and Yeri didn’t take too long. Mark tells himself that 30 minutes was reasonable and was rapidly trying to think of excuses so that he won’t have his ass beat by Jaemin. 

The two leave the house and Mark guides Yeri with an arm around her waist, even if she was no longer being affected by the alcohol. Mark spots the bench straight away, more like he spots Jaemin’s pink hair. He then notices the position that him and Y/N were in. He has his arm around her as she has her head on his shoulder, he rested his head on her own. Mark’s heart swells at the sight. 

Having been with Jaemin and the other guys their entire childhood, he knew Jaemin deserved to be happy. He gives Yeri a small squeeze and gestures to the pair on the bench. The smile that adorns Yeri’s face is almost blinding, and that puts a smile on Mark’s face.

“Mark, I want to tell you this because I trust you even though we just met today. I’m still really surprised over how much I feel like I can tell you everything already,” Yeri turns to face him in his hold. “This is Y/N’s business so you can’t tell a soul, not even Jaemin,” Yeri holds out her pinky finger to seal their promise, face completely serious. Mark looks at Yeri before linking his finger with hers.

“I promise that you can trust me Yeri. I feel the same, like I can tell you anything and that all of us have connected, as corny as it sounds,” Mark ducks his head in embarrassment. Yeri lights up at his mutual thoughts, before turning back to where her best friend and Mark’s best friend are sleeping.

“Y/N, she’s my best friend. We’ve been together since the first day of high school and we’ve been inseparable ever since. As part of being best friends, we’ve been there for each other’s best moments and each other’s worst. One of Y/N’s worst was her past boyfriend in our final two years of high school,” Mark looks at Yeri when she mentions ‘boyfriend’. 

“They were honestly a really cute couple. He looked at her like she was the most beautiful being, which she is,” Yeri smiles, eyes full of adoration. “I would’ve almost said they were in love, almost,” Mark stares as Yeri’s smile turns into a grimace, before looking Mark in the eye.

“It wasn't easy for her to walk in on the boy she loved kissing another girl, especially when that girl was one of our good friends that we trusted,” her expression changes into a look of resignation, as if she has thought about this often. “I should’ve seen it coming. He started making more excuses when Y/N wanted to meet up with him and our friend started disappearing and becoming less available,” Yeri breathes shakily and Mark rubs her back in comfort. 

“I was the one who had to pick up the pieces. I’m not sure what’s more heartbreaking, having your boyfriend cheat on you with your friend, or watching some guy break the heart of the most genuine and amazing girl you know,” Yeri finishes as a stray tear falls down her cheek. 

“She’s so strong though. She did her best to put it past her and move on. There’s been a couple hiccups since then and she’s had trust issues but Y/N pledged that she would treat uni as a clean slate, which is exactly what she’s done on day one,” Yeri smiles, admiring the girl she is proud to call her best friend. 

Mark drops his arm from around Yeri and the exact moment she looks at him, a tear runs down his face. 

After Yeri finished telling Y/N’s story, Mark saw flashbacks. Flashbacks of Jaemin with his arm around a girl they once knew, and a flashback of Mark hugging Jaemin so tightly as the boy apologised to Mark over and over again, sobs wracking his body. He is then brought back to reality.

“Mark? What’s wrong?” Yeri asked, voice laced with worry. He nods slowly.

“I think I can relate to you. Jaemin has also had a terrible experience with a past girlfriend. But I don’t think I’m ready to talk about it right now,” Mark almost whispers. 

Yeri tells him that was more than okay and they decide they should head back. Mark wakes up Jaemin without waking Y/N up. Jaemin looks around with a dazed expression before working out the situation. They get Y/N onto Jaemin’s back before walking back to the dorms.


	3. when barriers start to break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 !!
> 
> Please enjoy :)))

It was the morning after the party. Well, morning actually meant 2 in the afternoon and Renjun didn’t have anything on for the entire day, allowing him to rest from the previous day. 

He thought about everything. He wasn’t surprised that Mark and Yeji hit it off instantly. It’s not that their personalities are like that at all, they just really compliment each other well and noticed each other very quickly. He supposed they could all thank Mark and Yeji for everyone meeting one another.

What surprised Renjun was how comfortable Jaemin was around the girls - especially Y/N. Renjun knows about Jaemin’s past girlfriend and is aware of what he went through as are the other guys. He knows that Jaemin has had a fear of girls ever since and recently he told the guys he would try and diminish his fear. They were all so proud when he told them this, Haechan even cried. 

He believes that Jaemin deserves the world, speaking as one of his best friends. Y/N seems to be a great person and hopes that if they were to end up together, that Y/N treats Jaemin the way he deserves. 

His thoughts then move to a certain auburn-haired girl that he’s taken an instant liking to. He smiles to himself as he thinks about her beautiful features and equally beautiful personality that he’s come to know in a day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Y/N wakes up, she sees Yeri in her bed across the room, looking right back at her. Yeri is reminded of her conversation with Mark the previous night, and swallows a lump in her throat. Wordlessly, she gets up and walks over to Y/N before getting under the covers and pulling her into an embrace. Just as Y/N was about to ask Yeri what was wrong Yeri speaks.

“Y/N, you are the strongest girl I know and I love you so much,” her words muffled as she was speaking into Y/N’s hair. Y/N has no idea where this came from but is grateful nonetheless.

“I love you too,” she whispers, and they both fall back asleep like this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The week flew by and it quickly became Friday afternoon. Yeji and Lia suggested that they all celebrate the end of the week with milkshakes at a new place they discovered earlier in the week. 

At the moment the music group were all seated at a booth at the milkshake place. On one side of the booth is Mark and Yeri with Jeno left of Mark. Haechan sat across from Yeri, with Lia to his right followed by Yeji. They were all waiting for the literature group who were on their way after a class that ran slightly longer than planned. 

Yeri’s noticed throughout the week that the group of ten had really gravitated into pairs when you don’t count other factors that form other groups such as the group studying music and the group studying lit, the boys and the girls. She smirks and turns to Mark.

“Don’t you think everyone in our group has formed like couples?” she asks, feigning an innocent tone. Mark suddenly starts coughing at Yeri’s observation, despite knowing how true her words were. They were the ‘couple’ closest to being an actual couple out of the group despite not being one. 

Everyone else goes red with embarrassment while Haechan grins like the cheshire cat, wholeheartedly agreeing with Yeri. 

It was extremely unusual how quickly they all became so close, some more than others. But they just clicked, and embraced the opportunity with open arms.

Just at that moment Y/N, Chaewon, Jaemin and Renjun all walk in, effectively distracting Yeri before she could delve further into the topic. Her and Haechan both make big gestures to get their attention. When Y/N sees them she contemplates turning around and walking away, but she decides against it in favour of satisfying her milkshake craving. 

Renjun sits next to Jeno with Jaemin to his left. Chaewon sits across from him and Y/N next to her. 

Once seated they all fall into conversation easily and decide what they want. They all talk about the week’s activities as well as the new cafe job that Y/N would be starting, and how Jeno will also be starting a new job at the same cafe. Haechan laughs out loud saying how the shock on their faces as they find out they’d be working together is priceless.

It wasn’t long before everyone’s drinks arrived. Y/N’s mouth starts watering as she watches her strawberry milkshake be placed in front of her. Jaemin mirrors her expression as the same milkshake in chocolate is placed in front of him. Y/N found out that Jaemin can’t have dairy, when he ordered his drink with soy milk. He is lucky that the shop gave that option. Chaewon laughs at their matching expressions. 

“I guess it was definitely the right decision to bring those two here,” Lia joins in on the laughter.

“Y/N has always loved sweet things since we met. I’m honestly surprised her teeth aren’t rotten,” Yeri thinks out loud, prompting Jeno into the conversation.

“Jaemin’s the same. They actually both have a lot of similarities,” he thinks out loud, and the others agree while the pair are oblivious to the conversation. 

Haechan proposes a toast to surviving the first week of university and they all cheer, clinking milkshake glasses together. Mark however is slightly out of it, thinking about Jeno’s statement as well as his conversation with Yeri after the party. He frowns, not liking that either of them had to go through such terrible experiences. 

He’s snapped out of his thoughts when Jeno taps his arm and gives him a worried look. Mark reassures him and clinks his drink with Jeno’s. 

After just one sip of their milkshakes they decided that Friday evening milkshakes would definitely become a regular thing, especially when Yeji tells them that they are sold half price on Fridays.

Milkshakes didn’t get much better than this, Y/N decided. She looks up at Jaemin who was quietly enjoying his milkshake, quite opposite to the other end of the table where Yeri and Haechan are both shouting about how good their banana milkshakes are and offering everyone sips.

“Do you like it?” Y/N asks him. Jaemin puts his drink down only to reveal a chocolate moustache above his upper lip. Y/N chokes slightly on her own drink before bursting out laughing, extremely amused. Everyone looks down the table to see what happened, only to laugh out loud themselves at the new moustache Jaemin is sporting. Jaemin smiles sheepishly, and turns back to Y/N only to see her with her phone pointed right at him. His eyes widen as he grasps the situation and he quickly licks off the chocolate stuck to his face. Y/N laughs even harder and Jaemin laughs with her.

“I love it,” he answers her. Y/N’s eyes meet his for a few seconds as she smiles before she gets called by Yeri and looks away. 

This week spent with Y/N and the other girls had already helped him so much with his fear. What still worried him was his rapidly growing... affection? Towards Y/N. He knows she’s different but that didn’t stop his worry. However he tries his best to not let it affect how he acts around her and the other girls.

After a while of chatting with one another and enjoying milkshakes, it’s getting late but no one wants the day to end. Haechan suggests a movie night to which everyone agrees to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y/N decides to change into something casual since they would just be chilling out. After throwing on some sweatpants and a baggy hoodie along with her favourite fluffy socks, she calls out to Yeri to tell her she is ready. 

The pair stand outside a dorm house. It’s smaller than the one they went to for the party, but still a decent size. The girls were very jealous when they found out all of the guys lived together, but they also knew that all five boys have known each other since they were very little. Yeri suggested that the girls should find a house for them, to which the other girls seemed keen on.

Mark opens the door and lets the two girls inside. When they reach the living area, Y/N realises that they are the last ones to arrive. The way everyone is arranged is messy, but comfortable.

Haechan, Jeno and Yeji all sat on the three-seater couch. Lia sat on Haechan’s lap which surprised Y/N a lot but at the same time not so much. The floor was covered in pillows, blankets and bean bags in an attempt to make it comfy. Jaemin sat at Jeno’s feet on the floor while Renjun and Chaewon sat next to each other on the two bean bags. Mark takes his place on the two-seater and gestures for Yeri to sit next to him, like he’d planned this from the moment Haechan said ‘movie night’. Yeri doesn’t mind at all and she is almost skipping over to the couch. Y/N chuckles before taking the spot in between Chaewon and Jaemin, in front of Yeji.

Yeji gives Y/N a big hug from behind before sitting back to get comfortable. Y/N smiles at her and also gets comfy, pulling one of the blankets over her legs.

“Y/N looks like she’s achieved ultimate comfort right now, especially with those socks,” Haechan laughs from his spot, pointing at her feet poking out from the end of the blanket.

“I reckon Lia would definitely be comfier than this blanket, right Haechan?” Y/N fires back, smirking when she sees Haechan’s face heat up. Mark decides to intervene to save his best friend some embarrassment, even if he’s the last person to deserve it. 

“Okay so, we were waiting for everyone before we chose a movie. Did anyone have anything in mind?” Mark asks the group.

In the end per Yeri’s request, they agreed on a horror movie. Y/N thought the whole situation was becoming a ridiculous cliche with the way it’s panning out. She knows that Yeri hates horror movies, and just wants an excuse to cuddle up to Mark. She knows that the others most likely agreed on horror for the exact same reason. 

Y/N didn’t mind horror, it wasn’t her favourite but she still enjoyed watching it. She leaned back to get comfortable, pushing the large blanket over her feet as Mark started the movie. He sits down and almost instantly Yeri leans up next to him. He chuckles and puts an arm around her, causing Y/N to make fake gagging noises. The group erupts into laughter when Renjun joins in on the fake gagging. They all pay attention to the movie when Yeri aggressively shushes them, causing Y/N to roll her eyes in response.

As the movie progresses Y/N finds herself observing her friends instead. Even if they weren’t actually talking, Y/N was still learning new things about her new friends. 

Both Lia and Haechan are easily frightened it seemed, judging from how whenever there was a jumpscare, they both scream and hold each other for comfort. Yeji and Jeno both seemed like they could deal with horror movies, Yeji only jumping slightly at times. Y/N noticed that Jeno’s arm had made its way around Yeji’s shoulder at some point, making Y/N smirk.

Renjun and Chaewon also seemed to get scared easily, however nowhere near as bad as Lia and Haechan. Y/N catches a glimpse of the pair’s intertwined hands between their beanbags and she resists the urge to squeal out of excitement. 

Mark and Yeri were honestly hilarious. They were literally the most typical couple. When there was a jump scare, Yeri would jump and lean into Mark as he pulled her in closer and rubbed small circles into her arm soothingly. It was sickeningly cute, but Y/N was more happy for Yeri than anything else. 

Y/N sneaks glances at Jaemin next to her. Even if his eyes appeared focused on the movie, it was obvious that he was somewhere else completely, and she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. She frowns when she sees him shiver a bit, and decides to take initiative. 

Y/N shifts her blanket and reaches over to make sure it covers Jaemin too. Jaemin snaps out of his daze and looks at Y/N in confusion. He sees a flashback of him with a girl he once knew, standing outside a building on a cold winter afternoon. The girl pulls on his coat as she explains to him that it’s his responsibility to lend her his coat when she is cold. He nods and attempts a smile as he tries to stop his shaking.

When he returns to reality, Y/N is looking at him with genuine concern.

“W-why?” Jaemin barely whispers. Y/N looks taken aback for a second before stating the obvious.

“You were cold. This blanket is big enough for both of us,” she states with a serious tone, still whispering so they don’t distract the others. The increasing warmth reminds him of earlier that week, when him and Y/N sat together waiting for their friends after the party. When he looks into Y/N’s eyes, he doesn’t see the manipulative and fake attitude that the girl he once knew always had. With Y/N, her eyes are genuine and show that she actually cares for him. 

Deep down he feels a barrier crumble.

Feeling a little confident, he gently takes Y/N’s hand under the blanket they are sharing. Y/N is very surprised, but relaxes instantly as she feels a familiar warmth surge through her.

“Thankyou” Jaemin says, voice small. Y/N smiles in return.

The corners of Mark’s lips turn up into a smile, having watched the whole exchange.

When the movie ends, Y/N is reluctant to move. She could tell Jaemin was also reluctant. But she also knows that she has her first shift at the cafe the following morning, so she carefully pulls her hand from Jaemin’s, much to their shared disappointment. Chaewon follows Y/N’s lead as does Lia and Yeji.

It takes a lot of effort, but they finally manage to pull Yeri away from Mark. Yeri pouts and crosses her arms grumpily, not wanting to leave Mark. But as soon as Mark tells her that he’ll text her, she is instantly back to normal. 

They reach their dorm room and when Y/N gets comfy in her bed, she thinks about how Jaemin was so surprised over her kindness towards him. It worried her that maybe he didn’t like her much, but put that thought to bed instantly. He wouldn’t have grabbed her hand if he didn’t like her. Before she could dwell on it any longer, her eyes drifted shut as sleep took over. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jaemin looks between Jeno and Renjun who have both cornered him in their room that they all share. The two give him a look that tells Jaemin he won’t be able to escape from this. 

He has no clue what they want to talk to him about, but he knows it can’t be good. 

Renjun opens his mouth to speak but closes it immediately, like he’s contemplating how to approach the topic. Suddenly his eyes harden with determination as he looks Jaemin in the eye.

“I’m going to get straight to the point. How do you feel about Y/N?” 

Jaemin feels his heart thump against his chest when he hears Renjun’s words. He stutters a little, trying to figure out what to say. Renjun and Jeno wait patiently.

How did he feel?

“I-uh, she’s really kind and um, pretty,” Jaemin says slowly and looks up to see his best friends giving him encouraging smiles. Jaemin drops his head in defeat.

“I’m scared,” he whispers and Jeno and Renjun have to strain their ears to hear him. 

They give him a sad smile and Jaemin can tell that they already know exactly what he is thinking.

“I-I think I like her. No- I’m pretty sure I do. But I also felt like this when it came to her…'' he trails off and Jeno and Renjun’s expressions become serious.

“Of course it feels the same. You did like her after all,” Jeno sits next to Jaemin and puts an arm around his shoulder. 

“I don’t want to do that again,” Jaemin says and the other two know he’s talking about his old relationship.

“Jaemin, Y/N is good. She’s really nice,” Renjun says softly. Jaemin’s eyes shoot up to Renjun’s and he stands up abruptly.

“Well she was really nice too and look what happened,” Jaemin snaps, tears pooling in his eyes. The other two feel their hearts break a little knowing how much Jaemin is still being affected.

Renjun stands up and pulls Jaemin into a hug and Jeno follows suit, hugging Jaemin from behind. Sobs start wracking Jaemin’s body and the other two hold him a little tighter. 

They stay like this and give him a moment to let everything out.

After Jaemin calms down Jeno pulls him back to sit on the bed. Renjun kneels down in front of Jaemin and places his hands on the taller boy’s shoulders. Jaemin’s eyes are red and puffy and the sight alone makes Renjun want to give the boy another big hug. 

“Jaemin, I mean what I said. We all believe Y/N is a really good person. You deserve to be happy and I can tell that she already makes you so happy. I think you make her happy too.” Renjun tells him and Jeno agrees.

“Renjun is right, Jaemin. What happened to you is unforgivable. But you deserve a second chance more than anyone. We think that Y/N may be that second chance,” Jeno nudges Jaemin, his iconic eye smile adorning his face. 

“Y-you really think so?” Jaemin sniffles and looks at his friends to make sure they aren’t joking, not that he’d ever believe they would. When he sees only truth in their eyes, he smiles.

“Okay, I think this will help me feel better about certain things too…” Jaemin says and the other two both agree wholeheartedly.

All three best friends stand up and they all hug each other one last time before heading to their own beds. 

“Jeno? Renjun?” Jaemin whispers from under his covers, earning hums in return.

“Thank you. You guys are the best.” Renjun and Jeno could hear the smile on Jaemin’s face which puts matching smiles on the other boys’ faces.

They tell him it was nothing. They will always look out for each other.


	4. when coffee brings a rendezvous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i present you with chapter 4 !
> 
> please enjoy :)

Y/N smiles as she places hot drinks in front of two women sitting at one of the tables by the window. Y/N bows her head as the women thank her as she makes her way back to the counter. Jeno meets her eyes with his iconic eye-smile, and passes over another cup of coffee for her to serve. 

Y/N and Jeno couldn’t believe that they would start their new part-time jobs at the same place. They were even more shocked to find out that they would work the same shift. Their manager had told them that they had a lot of staff leave since they had finished university at the end of the year. 

The pair didn’t mind as they were both excited to work together. They found out they actually work really well together and enjoyed each other’s company. Y/N takes orders, Jeno makes drinks, Y/N serves them. When they get bored, they switch roles.

Surprisingly, the cafe wasn’t very busy. Maybe it was because it was a Saturday morning. When they were asked to work through lunch they both agreed. They found the work to be somewhat relaxing, and they couldn’t say no to their manager on their first day. 

It was a bit before midday when Y/N hears a series of familiar voices come through the entrance. Her mouth drops when she sees their whole group (minus Jeno and herself) walk into the cafe. She was so glad that their manager had left the shop to them until the end of their shift, and judging by the look on Jeno’s face, he agreed.

The group bunches up into one of the booths and both Haechan and Yeri send them the most evil grins Y/N has ever seen. Everyone else on the table smiled innocently. There was no one to attend to at that second so Jeno and Y/N both go over to the booth.

“Hey guys! How’s the new job?” Renjun greets before Yeri could even say a word. Jeno flashes his signature eye smile before replying.

“It’s actually really good. Y/N and I have worked out a good rhythm already which makes everything super easy.” Jeno explains, Y/N nodding in agreement. Everyone looks at them and expresses how happy they are for the pair.

At that moment someone walks in and Y/N quickly makes her way behind the counter to take the customer’s order. The group watches in awe at how natural she makes it all look. By that time Jeno had made his way behind the counter too, he takes the order off of Y/N and starts making a drink. The two work seamlessly and it wasn’t too long until the customer is walking out with their takeaway coffee in hand. When the two return to the booth, the group’s mouths are all on the floor. This makes Y/N and Jeno laugh. 

“Were you guys actually going to order something or did you just come to watch us in action?” Y/N asks the group, a smirk gracing her features. Jaemin immediately puts his hand up.

“Could I please get an espresso macchiato with soy milk, six shots?” he asks with a big smile. Y/N’s eyes almost pop out when she hears him, and the other girls look at him as if he was growing a second head.

“Do you want to die?” she asks him, genuinely concerned for his health. He keeps his smiles as if he’s heard this a million times before.

“I’m lactose intolerant,” he simply states as if that answered everything. Y/N lets out a little awkward laugh and decides not to question him further. 

It turns out that Jaemin was the only person who came to actually get coffee while the others just came for the sake of it. 

Y/N tells Jeno to stay and chat before heading behind the counter and making Jaemin’s coffee. She turns around briefly to look at her friends and instantly regrets it as she makes eye contact with Jaemin who is sitting at one end of the booth. At first she thinks he might be judging the way she makes coffee but then he gives a reassuring smile, as if he knew she was worried for a moment. Heat makes its way to Y/N’s cheeks and she turns away to finish making the drink.

When Y/N places Jaemin’s drink in front of him, the rest of the table applauds her. 

“It looks delicious!” Yeji marvels, examining the hot drink. Y/N snorts in response. 

“It’s just coffee, nothing out of this world” Y/N states as she watches Jaemin sip from his espresso. Despite what she just said, she still feels nervous butterflies pool in her stomach. 

What if he didn’t like it? 

The grin he gives her next erases her previous thoughts as he tells her how great it tastes. She lets out a breath she didn’t realise she’d been holding.

Eventually more people started to enter the shop as they were officially entering the lunch rush, which still wasn’t too busy. Jeno and Y/N give the group a wave as they return to the counter. The group tells them they will wait for them until they finish their shift and they all chat with each other about trivial things. 

Jaemin often steals glances at Y/N, watching as she gracefully makes drinks, takes orders and serves drinks to customers. He feels warm and content, and knows it was not just his espresso.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y/N and Chaewon head straight for their usual seats as soon as they enter the lecture room. Not long after they sit down, Jaemin and Renjun walk in and sit in the two seats directly behind the girls. 

A few weeks ago the two boys decided to sit with Y/N and Chaewon. The seats on either side of the girls were taken, so the boys opted for the empty seats in the row behind. 

They all greet each other but before they can get any further into a conversation the professor walks in the door and immediately starts the class.

Class goes by as normal. Y/N takes notes when needed and whispers with Chaewon occasionally about things such as dinner plans for that night. 

Y/N suddenly feels eyes watching her. When she looks around she spots two girls some rows in front, looking towards her. More precisely, they were looking past her and at a certain pink-haired male. She rolls her eyes, knowing this had become a common occurrence.

The group knew that Jaemin was extremely good looking. Heck, their whole group was made up of visuals. Y/N tried to ignore how much of a potato she felt around them all. The girls never let Y/N feel bad about herself though and are always trying to make her realise how beautiful she is. 

However, it was Jaemin who seemed to be the target of the open gawking from many girls and guys. Jeno said that it was unsurprising yet very surprising. According to him, Jaemin didn’t get this much attention in high school. He left out that it was because he had a girlfriend for the first half of it and couldn’t even look at girls for the rest.

The words that Y/N heard come from the professor’s mouth next made her giddy.

“For the next three weeks, everyone will be taking part in group projects-”

Y/N normally isn’t too pleased when she has to do a group project because it usually involves unfair workloads and people she didn’t like. But this time she has three friends she knows she will work well with. Her face falls when the professor finishes their announcement.

“-in groups of six.” 

That wasn’t what she was expecting. Wasn’t four the magic number when it came to writing projects like these? Apparently not.

The class is dismissed and everyone instantly starts forming groups for the project, discussing meet up times and ideas. Jaemin, Renjun, Chaewon and Y/N all look between each other with dubiety. They all know that they’d rather work as a group of four. Unfortunately, forming a group of six would be unavoidable as the professor left no room for argument, knowing the numbers in the class was exact. 

“E-excuse me Jaemin” they all turn to see the same two girls Y/N had caught staring at Jaemin earlier. The one who just spoke has bright red hair and was as skinny as a stick. The other girl has blonde hair and was a little shorter than the red haired girl.

“Did you need something?” He gives them a small smile that Y/N has come to learn to be the polite smile that he gives strangers. The two girls look at each other before the redhead speaks up again.

“Well, the group projects must be groups of six and we saw you guys only have four people. We were hoping that we could join you guys?” She gives an innocent smile to the group and Y/N decides to join the conversation.

“Of course you can join! It’ll be a big help for all of us.” she says with a smile and the redhead beams.

“Yay! Thank you.” 

“No problem. I’m Y/N, this is Chaewon, Renjun and you obviously know Jaemin.” Y/N introduces with a grin. 

“I’m Aria, and this is my best friend Mia.” Aria returns her smile. Y/N doesn’t feel the same instant connection with the two as she felt with her group but she still hopes that she could become friends. After all, she promised Yeri that she would try and put her trust issues aside. 

Chaewon feels skeptical. Aria’s smile seems forced and Chaewon didn’t miss the way Mia’s eyes lingered on Renjun for a little longer than what would be normal. A negative feeling pools in Chaewon’s stomach which she recognises to be jealousy, as much as she doesn’t want to admit it. 

She didn’t want a negative opinion on the two girls to be based on jealousy over the way Mia keeps glancing over at Renjun but she couldn’t help but feel that these girls would be bad news. However, Y/N doesn't seem as troubled so Chaewon stays quiet.

They group parted with Aria and Mia after exchanging contacts and organising to meet up the following day. Chaewon decides to keep her first impression of the two girls to herself, wanting to talk to Yeri about it instead. 

“Well, I’ll see you guys later. I have work until dinner this afternoon” Y/N says with a pout. It’s not like she didn’t want to go to work, since she’ll get to see Jeno, but she was looking forward to a rest.

“No worries. I’ll text you later, kay?” Chaewon gives Y/N a hug before they part ways. 

Chaewon knew this was her chance. She pulls out her phone and brings up Yeri’s contact.

FairyChae: Hey Yeri, are you free? I need to talk to you about something :)

The reply was almost instant, Chaewon smiles when she reads it.

Yeriii<3: of course!! I’ll bring lia and yeji too if that’s okay?

FairyChae: Totally! Your room in 10?

Chaewon puts her phone in her pocket after getting a confirmation from Yeri. She says goodbye to Renjun and Jaemin before heading straight to Yeri and Y/N’s room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The girls have all squished up together on Yeri’s bed and they stare at Chaewon, waiting for her to start. 

“In the lecture today, we were assigned group projects. Groups of six, no exceptions. These two girls named Aria and Mia came up to us and asked Jaemin specifically if they could join our group.” Yeri’s face hardened. She could see where this was going and she didn’t like it.

“Y/N said that they could, which is fine because I would’ve said yes too. It was polite. But something about the two girls just gave me a bad feeling. I know I shouldn't judge them from the first impression but Aria just seemed so fake when she talked to Y/N, and she bought it too. She’s too nice for her own good. Oh and the way Mia would look at Renjun, it was super gross and it was like I was the only one seeing all of this.” Chaewon rambled, gripping Lia’s arm in the process. 

If Chaewon wasn’t so stressed over this encounter then the girls would’ve teased her for her obvious jealousy. Before Yeri is able to open her mouth Chaewon continues.

“I know it just looks like I’m being jealous, which I am.” Chaewon drops her head in embarrassment. “But I’m serious when I say that I think these girls are trouble. I don’t want any of us to get hurt.” her voice goes quiet. Yeri stares at Chaewon with an unreadable expression. Yeji and Lia both look upset over how worried Chaewon is.

“I think I need to tell you guys something. It’s about Y/N’s past boyfriend. Y/N must not know that I told you, or anyone.” Yeri says slowly, a spark of determination in her eyes. 

She tells them the story that she told Mark. She says how much of a terrible friend she felt like for not being able to save Y/N from such a heartbreak. She talks about how since then Y/N had trust issues with any new person she met, whether they were a boy or a girl. After all, her boyfriends and friend both betrayed her. 

Yeri explains that Y/N made a promise to try to trust others. It was just as well that she did because they wouldn’t have met such a caring friend as Chaewon and Y/N wouldn’t have opened up so quickly to the group. 

“I don’t want a repeat of that. We’ll have to keep an eye on Aria and Mia.” Yeri says sternly, earning nods from the other girls. 

“I think that we should still be kind to them as we would anyone. But keep them at an arm’s length.” 

They decide to move on to lighter conversations and play games to fill in the free time. The conversation remaining fresh in their minds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Relaxing at the cafe is probably one of Jaemin’s favourite pastimes as of late. He loves the calm, chill atmosphere. He loves the generic coffee house jazz that played softly throughout the cafe. 

But most of all, he enjoyed watching the two people who worked there. 

Jaemin always wants to support his best friend. He’s known Jeno since they were infants, and had grown up by each other's sides. Jeno was like his soulmate, and he was eternally grateful to have a best friend like him. 

Y/N on the other hand. Jaemin met her on the first day of university when Mark dragged the guys over to Yeri’s table. Mark had literally begged them that they had to go see this Yeri girl that Mark had instantly taken an interest to. The boys knew that Mark never developed crushes for people he’d just met. That was why Haechan had apparently sprinted over to the three girls to ask if they wanted to do the music project together.

Jaemin liked Y/N. She was kind, honest and beautiful. He knew he was developing a crush on the girl, and the thought absolutely terrified him. 

His brain only served him flashbacks of what was most definitely his darkest time. A girl with dark brown hair and bangs flood his mind and he has to take deep breaths so that he doesn’t have a panic attack. His therapist taught him the technique.

He suddenly feels a hand on his shoulder and snaps his head around. Y/N looks at him with worry and asks him if he’s okay. Just the sight of the girl he’s come to appreciate a lot helps him relax a little. He reassures her that he’s fine and she smiles before going back to her work. Jaemin doesn’t see Jeno watching him with concern from the counter. 

Jeno and Y/N’s shift consists of the two of them constantly going back and forth between the counter, customer’s tables and Jaemin’s table. It’s become routine, especially since Jaemin comes to the cafe every time the two of them have a shift. 

Y/N couldn’t help the butterflies she felt every time Jaemin walked into the cafe. He has his own little routine. Once he walks in the door he makes his way to one of the small tables by the window. He sits at the same table every time. He then orders an espresso macchiato with soy milk, six shots because he is lactose intolerant. If Y/N is taking his order, she gives him the same look that asks him if he’s trying to kill himself. If it’s Jeno, he just smiles since he is used to the ridiculous order. Jaemin always stays until the end of the shift as he never has any other responsibilities to attend to.

Y/N learnt that Jaemin’s parents pay for his uni fees. They made a deal with him that he could pay them back after he finished and got a proper job. They want him to be able to concentrate fully on university. Jaemin abides by their decision and always makes sure he’s on top of his work. This leaves him with so much spare time that he can afford to sit in the cafe for hours multiple times a week.

Jaemin usually brought things with him to keep him entertained. He can only watch his friends for so long before it becomes creepy. He often brought in a book, sometimes his blue Nintendo DS which the boys always made fun of him for. 

Today he brings in his polaroid camera - his child. He loves the cafe setting so he decided he wanted a few photos to add to his collection. He brings the camera up to his face and lines the viewfinder up to his eye. He directs the camera to Jeno who is about to serve someone their drink. Jaemin steadies his hands as he watches Jeno walk over to the table. Jaemin pushes down on the shutter just as Jeno is placing the drink on the table, signature eye smile in place. Jaemin smiles as he takes the picture out, and waits for it to process. 

While he waits, he decides to take another photo. Bringing the viewfinder up to his eye once more, he looks around the cafe. He spots Y/N standing at the counter, looking around to see if anyone needs to be tended to. At that moment she turns around and meets Jaemin’s eye-, well, camera. His finger hovers over the shutter. Y/N then pulls a big smile - the one Jaemin learnt to be a genuine one she uses when she’s really enjoying herself - and she waves at him.

The click sound of the camera resonates in his ear and his heart flutters a little. He pulls the camera down to smile and wave back.

Jaemin wouldn’t spend his free time anywhere else.


	5. when they think they know it all (and haechan yeets a ball at aria's face)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't own anything except for aria and mia.
> 
> enjoy chapter 5 !!

Y/N sat at one of the chairs at the dining table in the boy’s dorm house. Chaewon, Jaemin and Renjun along with Aria and Mia at the table. They were starting their first project for literature class.

The group decided that one of their rooms would be the best place to work and since the boys actually lived in a house rather than a small dorm room, they should work there. 

The other girls all decided to come over too. Y/N was a little confused until Yeri said she really wanted to see Mark. That made sense. 

So while the literature group set up at the dining table, the music group sat in the living area.

Unbeknownst to the group studying, the other girls were on a spy mission and they needed the other boys in on it.

“Hey Mark, reckon we can all go up to one of your rooms for a minute?” Yeri asks him with her best puppy eyes, not that they were needed.

“Uhh sure,” Mark says, a little confused. He leads them all up to his and Haechan’s room.

Yeri, Lia, Yeji, Mark, Haechan and Jeno all sit in a circle, the guys all very confused now.

“I’ll get to the point, we don’t have concrete proof yet but we think that Aria and Mia are bad news. We think they probably had ulterior motives when they asked to be in their group for the project. Chaewon says that Mia kept looking at Renjun instead of paying attention and while I think it’s adorable that Chaewon is jealous, she was very distressed when she told us.” The boys take in everything that Yeri just told them, worried expressions adorning their faces.

“We may be completely off the mark. If we are then that means we are mean and judging people. I don’t think we should do anything just yet, but just keep an eye on them. I don’t want any of them to get hurt.” Everyone nods in agreement, completely trusting Yeri’s judgement. 

She’s become their leader of sorts when the situation is serious. For someone so boisterous and energetic, she could keep a level head and make the right choices when it matters most.

The rest of the group respected this. 

Yeri and Mark share a knowing look after Yeri says she doesn’t want anyone hurt, remembering their conversation from the party on their first day.

The string of silence that followed is interrupted by Yeji who had a cheshire cat-like grin. 

“What are we waiting for? Let the spy mission begin,” she snickers, and they all follow her back to the living room. 

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.

The story of a young man’s childhood fascination with Kyoto’s Kinkakuji (Golden Temple) and it’s so-called ‘perfect’ structure. The man discovers flaws in the composition and his fascination soon becomes an obsession with idealised beauty. He decides that he can possess it only through a heinous act of violence. 

Y/N looks forward to studying Yukio Mishima’s novel. Japanese culture has always piqued her interest - both modern and historic culture. Studying the novel for uni would be killing two birds with one stone.

The literature group has already gone over the requirements and they’ve allocated a theme to each person and they will research said theme and how it applies to the novel. 

Y/N looks at her notebook where a single word sits at the top of the page.

Beauty. 

Beauty was most definitely the main theme of the story and thus the most important one. 

She starts her research promptly as she doesn’t want to let the group down.

Mark watches the group work and notices Jaemin sneaking glances at Y/N. This puts a small smile on his face. 

He’s very aware that Jaemin has grown a little crush on Y/N. This information alone makes Mark very happy and proud of his best friend. But he also sees Jaemin’s hesitation and can only imagine what memories he’s being brought back to.

Mark’s been told a number of times how well he can read a person. After the incident with Jaemin in high school, Mark wanted to be able to use this ability to protect those he loved.

As cliche as it sounded, Mark swore to never let anyone hurt his friends again.

Back to the issue at hand, Mark knew they could trust Y/N. Yeri and himself both believe that Y/N and Jaemin can bring out each other’s best qualities, even if it had only been weeks of them all meeting one another.

His thoughts are interrupted when he sees Aria ‘drop’ her pen on the floor between herself and Jaemin. Jaemin being the kind gentleman he is, reaches to pick up the pen. 

It was like a movie, Mark thought, as he watched Aria rush for the pen at the same time.

It felt as if everything had gone into slow motion as Jaemin and Aria’s hands touched. Jaemin looks up in surprise as Aria giggles and Mark could see Haechan and Lia’s disgusted faces in his peripherals. Mark eyes flick over to Y/N as he catches her turning away, mouth in a straight line. 

She’s feigning ignorance, Mark recognises - something he knows far too well.

All of a sudden time speeds up when Mark hears the sound of Aria scream and he looks back to see Jeno’s inflatable basketball lying on the ground behind Aria. The ball was soft so it wouldn’t hurt, but could definitely give someone a fright if it hit them on the back of the head. 

Lia comes running into the dining area to retrieve the ball.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” Lia asks Aria before turning to Haechan who’s walking into the dining area. “Haechan there was no way I could catch that!” she scolds him. Mark watches the scene unravel, and notices Lia struggling to keep a straight face. His mouth drops.

“Ah yeah I’m really sorry Aria. Is your head okay?” Haechan asks in a voice that to anyone, sounds genuine. But Mark knew in a second that Haechan isn’t sorry in the slightest. 

Aria resists the urge to give them a nasty glare for ruining her moment with Jaemin, but settles for an innocent face.

“No it’s fine! I know you didn’t mean it. I’m okay” she smiles. The pair take this as their chance to escape.

When they come back into the living area, Yeri watches as they high five each other and commend each other’s acting skills. Yeri didn’t know if she should scold them or applaud them. 

Mark’s jaw drops for the umpteenth time as he watches Yeri join in on the high fives.

“I don’t like her.” Yeri states, face turned serious. “We’ll only stand in if they get out of line. But oh my god Haechan I couldn’t believe your aim! If you’d been slightly off you would’ve hit Jaemin.” 

It was like a switch was flipped and suddenly Yeri is being her usual, bubbly self.

“Us boys played a lot of basketball growing up, it was nothing.” Haechan laughs, getting embarrassed. 

Chaewon thought she did an amazing job at not laughing when Haechan threw the ball at Aria. She’d seen him lining up and everything, after all. Aria and Mia both had their backs to the living area and the only person who could’ve seen Haechan aiming the ball would’ve been Renjun but she was pretty sure he was focused on his research.

His perfect aim had surprised her, so when the ball hit her dead on, she had to try her hardest to not burst out laughing. 

It’s what Aria gets for her obvious ulterior motives. Mia too. The girl had barely any notes on her page. She’d spent the entire time ogling at Renjun not so subtly. To Chaewon, at least. 

“Uh Mia, are you having trouble? You haven’t written much.” Chaewon points out. “I can help you if you’d like?” Mia gives Chaewon an extremely uninterested look, which turns into a smile as soon as she notices Renjun watching her.

Chaewon wanted to roll her eyes. 

Mia tells them that she’s fine and continues to actually work. She resists the urge to scoff, knowing Mia would’ve jumped at the chance to be helped by Renjun. Regardless of whether she liked Mia, she would’ve helped her since it was a group project. 

Renjun glances at Chaewon having her internal battle and chuckles. He finds this girl more interesting every day that goes past.

Jaemin is a little confused. He knew Haechan’s aim was impeccable and he wouldn’t have thrown anything that he knew Lia wouldn’t catch. Jaemin decided to count it as Haechan teasing the girl. 

He couldn’t help but feel a little bad for Aria but he also couldn’t shake off how uncomfortable he felt when their hands touched. Aria’s giggle sounded familiar and he didn’t like it.

Jaemin decides it’s best he doesn’t dwell on it too much so he decides to continue his research. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The literature group all shut their books after a long session of researching. They agree to meet up again the same time the following week to continue. 

Aria and Mia leave soon after, albeit reluctantly, much to the music group and Chaewon’s annoyance.

Seconds after the two girls leave, they hear banging on the front door followed by what sounds like a screeching dolphin. 

The boys let out a collective groan, leaving the girls in all kinds of confusion.

“Who invited the brats over?” Haechan drones with the most unimpressed face Y/N had ever seen on a person. Jeno ignores him and moves to the door. He opens it to reveal two boys; one with mint green hair and a taller one with strawberry blonde, both with large grins that make them look much younger than what Y/N would’ve guessed them to be.

“Hi Jeno-hyung! Mark-hyung said we could come round!” the boy with green hair spouts excitedly. 

“Hi Chenle, Jisungie” Jeno greets with a warm smile. Y/N could tell that these two meant a lot to the guys, regardless of the whining earlier. Everyone gathers in the dining area and Renjun stands up.

“Uh the green dolphin is Chenle, and this mouse here is Jisung. The seven of us have all grown up together since we were toddlers but these two are still doing their last year of high school.” the group laughs at the odd introduction.

Renjun then points to each of the girls and introduces them, each of them giving warm smiles and a wave in greeting, which was returned by both boys. 

“Are the two girls who just left your friends too?” Jisung speaks up for the first time, surprising Y/N over how deep his voice is.

“Yeah no offense, but I don’t really like them and I haven’t even met them!” Chenle pipes up. This shocks the boys, as they know that Chenle rarely dislikes anyone, not this quickly anyways.

“The four of us have a literature project with them,” Jaemin tells them and gestures to those at the table still. Chenle hums in response, like he’d just worked something out.

Everyone makes themselves comfortable in the living area. They decided to play video games, ultimately agreeing to play Mario Kart on Haechan’s Nintendo Switch. 

They would have a tournament, four people at a time, and everyone would be split into two teams. All points would be added at the end to determine the winner. The two teams would be decided with lots. 

Y/N ended up in the red team along with Yeji, Jeno, Jaemin, Jisung and Lia. Yeri, Mark, Chaewon, Renjun, Haechan and Chenle were on the blue team. 

Y/N pulls out a red piece of paper and turns it over to see a ‘3’ written in black marker. Everyone else pulls out their papers out of a cup too to find out which race they’d be in.

The first race will be Jaemin and Jeno vs Yeri and Renjun. 

Jaemin and Jeno both take the two red controllers off of the stand and Yeri and Renjun take the blue ones. Everyone sits in their places after Haechan finishes writing everything on a piece of paper. 

Y/N tries her best to zone out Haechan who has not stopped hyping himself up and going on about how great he is at the game.

“I’ve been training for this my whole life!” Haechan announces while making big arm motions to emphasise his statement.

“We get it!” Yeri shouts at him. “If you want to win then shut up so I concentrate!” 

Haechan sends Yeri the most offended look he could muster, but surprisingly complies. 

The first group all choose their characters. Yeri rushes to choose Rosalina and Renjun settles for King Boo. Jeno chooses Donkey Kong and Jaemin chooses Isabelle. Everyone instantly bursts out in laughter as soon as Jaemin clicks on the cute, yellow character. 

Jaemin shrugs his shoulders. “Don’t hate on Isabelle, she’s awesome,” he huffs. 

Y/N smiles at his childish look and she watches as he chooses the wiggler kart and a parachute. 

“So just to clarify, the losing team pays for dinner right?” Jeno speaks up before the race starts. Everyone choruses their agreement to the bet.

As soon as the first race starts, the playful atmosphere vanishes and everyone’s competitive spirit shines through. They all know that it wasn’t just dinner on the line, but a few week’s worth of bragging rights too. That is enough to make everyone determined to win. 

Y/N observes each of the four players, eyes lingering on Jaemin’s screen a bit longer than the others. Everyone learns very quickly that Yeri is absolutely horrible at the game and constantly bumps into walls which sends Haechan into all kinds of rage.

Y/N notices that Jeno and Renjun are both pretty average and that Renjun is probably a little better than Jeno. 

Y/N gets excited when she sees that Jaemin is maintaining 1st place, knowing that this will be a huge help for their team to win overall. She finds it very amusing to watch Isabelle in the Flame Rider absolutely dominating the race.

Y/N starts watching Jaemin rather than his screen all of a sudden. She watches as his face scrunches in concentration which she finds endearing as well as adorable. Her eyes fall down to his hands, long fingers handling the controller like he’s been doing it forever. 

She snaps out of her thoughts when her team starts cheering. She looks up and sees that Jaemin won the first race. He turns and catches her eye which sends butterflies into her stomach. They smile at each other and hi five to celebrate the victory and her hand tingles a little afterwards. She chooses to ignore it.

The rest of the races are fairly consistent to the first and Jaemin finishes winning all races with no trouble. The red team all cheer and laugh at Yeri who placed tenth overall. Haechan’s jaw is almost reaching the floor when he looks at the score which only adds to the group’s laughter.

They all passed across controllers for the second race which would be Lia and Jisung vs Chaewon and Chenle. Chenle starts tackling Jisung and shouting about how he would ‘crush him’ forcing Mark to separate the pair so that they could start. 

Jisung quickly chooses baby Peach which makes the boys laugh at him. Y/N thought it was cute, especially since she found out Jisung was the youngest. Chenle chooses baby Mario which Y/N finds equally as adorable. Chaewon chooses Toadette after some thought and Lia decides on the pink haired villager from Animal Crossing. 

The second lot of races was nothing short of hilarious. It was filled with Haechan shouting instructions to Chenle and Chaewon, Chenle’s dolphin screams and everyone else laughing at how chaotic the situation was. 

Jisung was blitzing through the races with baby Peach in the Bone Rattler. Y/N thought the contrast was very amusing. Haechan keeps reminding the red team that Jisung was only winning because Chenle ‘drives like a noob’ and that he could easily win the race himself. 

“Stop talking yourself up Haechannie, you’ll regret it,” Jeno calls out to him before winking at Yeji. They both share a laugh and think back to the previous week where Jeno invited Yeji around since everyone else was busy at the time. The two had both played Mario Kart and Jeno learnt very quickly that Yeji was a force to be reckoned with as she breezed through Haechan’s previous records. 

Y/N is a little confused over what Jeno means, but decides that having Yeji on her team was probably a good thing. 

Jisung also finishes with a perfect score and hi fives Jaemin. The other three all finish with average scores. 

“Now for the main event,” Haechan says as he cracks his knuckles. Both him and Mark pick up the two blue controllers and Y/N and Yeji take the red ones. 

Jaemin watches Y/N choose Toad as Haechan chooses Yoshi at the same time. Jaemin teases Haechan for how competitive he is right now. The tan boy had always been super competitive but this time he was being ridiculous. Jaemin thinks it might have to do with impressing a certain dark haired girl.

Haechan’s animated personality has always been his charm, never failing to liven up the mood. Albeit his brazen attitude, his heart is always in the right place and that is one of the many reasons why Jaemin is lucky to have Haechan as a best friend.

That doesn’t take away from the fact that Haechan was being a little shit right now and that he wanted Yeji and Y/N to absolutely crush him.  
Jaemin watches Jeno climb over Chenle and Jisung to sit next to Yeji, who chooses Inkling Girl to race with. Jaemin feels his heart swell a little. Jeno’s never really shown any interest in a person romantically before as he was always with the boys and didn’t hang around many other people. Seeing the way Jeno is with Yeji and how Yeji shows the same interest in Jeno makes Jaemin want to give his best friend a big hug.

Jaemin looks back at the screen to see Mark choose Mario which makes Yeri tease him over his basic choice.

When the race starts, Jaemin instantly knows what Jeno meant earlier as he watches Yeji pull ahead. He can honestly say he’s never seen a better player and that Haechan was about to eat dust. Y/N was also really good but was just sitting behind the other two while Mark was about halfway back. Jaemin believes Y/N would win if she wasn’t up against Yeji and Haechan.

Haechan wasn’t all just talk after all and he really did practice all the time.

Jaemin finds his eyes flicker over to Y/N very frequently during the game and thinks she looks very cute when she plays. He chuckles when she yells out in frustration after making a mistake. Jaemin wouldn’t know what mistake since he was only watching her.

“You’re drooling Jaemin,” Yeri whispers not so quietly. His head snaps over to hers in panic and she lets out an evil laugh. He’s lucky everyone else is so absorbed in the game that they don’t hear Yeri. He gives her a half-hearted glare before returning his attention to the screen. 

Unsurprisingly, Yeji dominates all four races which guarantees the red team the win. Haechan finishes second overall and Y/N and Mark aren’t too far behind. The house is in chaos as soon as they finish the last race. From Chenle’s dolphin scream to Haechan calling foul play and being a sore loser to Y/N denying Yeri complaining that she’s ‘too broke to pay for dinner’. 

After Mark miraculously manages to calm everyone down before they get into trouble, they all agree on dinner.

Y/N wonders what she did to be so lucky to be friends with all of these amazing people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter was a little boring. next chapter we see progression :D


	6. when milkshakes lead to confessions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's the next chapter to commemorate jaemin's 20th birthday today !! let's wish our best boy the best birthday <3
> 
> please enjoy !

It’s 2pm on a Sunday and the cafe is mostly empty save for two women chatting together at a random table and Jaemin who’s situated at his usual table. Jaemin is reading a book now as he has already finished drinking his ‘coffee of death’ as Lia had labelled it. He thinks she might be spending a little too much time with Haechan.

Y/N and Jeno are cleaning tables to fill in time. 

“Um, Y/N?” Jeno says in a hushed tone. Y/N turns to him with a look of confusion, wondering why he is whispering. 

“I- um. Do you- uh,” Jeno stumbles over his words which only confuses Y/N more. She gives Jeno an encouraging smile and tells him to take his time.

“What do you think about Aria and Mia?” he asks slowly. Y/N didn’t know what she was expecting, but not that. Her mouth forms a small ‘o’ as she thinks about the question.

Did one of the guys like one of them? Does Jeno like one of them? Y/N thought that he liked Yeji. Perhaps it was Jaemin who had a crush on Aria? Y/N tries to ignore the small pang of hurt she feels in her chest as she remembers their interaction at their first study session. 

“They’re... cool I guess?” Y/N decides to keep it simple and gives him a small smile. The raised eyebrow Jeno gives her tells her that he sees right through her, but he doesn’t question her further and continues cleaning tables with a smile of his own. 

Jeno watches Y/N as she becomes immersed in her thoughts, making Jeno feel bad for asking her. He concludes that this reaction must be a good thing for the group - particularly his best friend - and that Aria and Mia aren’t Y/N’s favourite people. 

Jeno detests making enemies of others unless they are a danger to his friends. However, these two girls are a special case. Jeno believes they may be a danger for Jaemin emotionally considering the pink haired boy’s past. According to Yeri, Y/N is in a similar state as Jaemin emotionally. These girls seem like they will cause trouble for the group.

The other reason they don’t particularly like the two girls is that they’re trying to ruin two of their favourite ‘ships’ as Haechan calls them. It’s become more obvious since after the first lit study session as the music group has been watching the two girls like hawks.

Jeno had to admit, it was exactly as Yeri had said the first time they all went to get milkshakes. 

The group has paired off into ‘couples’. Everyone just kind of clicked. 

From the group’s point of view, Aria and Mia are pushing themselves into the dynamic and not in a good way.

Jeno knows they don’t have to worry about Renjun because the blonde is very observant and has probably already noticed what the two girls are trying to do. That, and also because he has a massive crush on Chaewon.

Jaemin admitted to having a crush on Y/N. However, he is extremely oblivious when it comes to noticing something like this and if Aria ever tried to do anything to him that he didn’t want, Jeno didn’t even want to imagine his best friend’s reaction. 

Jeno grips the table he’s cleaning, his knuckles turning white. Jaemin didn’t deserve what happened to him. No one deserved to go through that. 

A flashback of Jaemin’s sobbing figure flashes in Jeno’s mind. His best friend (with brown hair at the time) looked so small as he clung onto Mark, soaking his shirt with his tears as he cried out apologies over and over again. Jeno and the other four boys could only watch as they shed tears of their own. Jisung and Chenle held onto each other as they cried.

A tap on his shoulder snaps him out of his daze and he blinks away the tears threatening to fall. Jeno turns to see Y/N looking at him with concern.

“Jeno, are you alright? Jaemin called your name five times,” she told him and looked at Jaemin who also gave them a worried look. Jeno assures Y/N that he’s okay before he makes his way to Jaemin’s table. 

Jaemin gives Jeno a look and Jeno only sighs. They’ve both come to a point where they hardly need to speak, their faces giving away what is on their mind anyways. 

Jaemin simply looks Jeno directly in the eyes as if he was searching for something. The pink haired boy pauses for a second before he puts an arm around his best friend and he pulls the latter into his side. 

Jeno relishes the feeling of being held by Jaemin. ‘Sometimes rather than talk about the issues at hand, you just need to hug it out’. Jeno was astounded that Haechan was capable of forming such wise words, but was truly grateful nonetheless.

Y/N watched the pair in awe, a smile adorning her face. She knew that all of the boys were extremely close. However, it is this exact moment where Y/N realises that these boys are not just best friends.

They’re brothers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The group find themselves in the same situation that they’re usually in every Friday afternoon. The music group is at their usual table at their favourite milkshake place while they wait for the lit group to arrive after their last class for the week. 

Like usual, Haechan is complaining loudly about something that they really couldn’t care about save for Lia who enjoyed listening to the boisterous boy’s rambles. Everyone else occupies themselves with conversations of their own. 

Yeri couldn’t help but feel like something was off, like something bad was about to happen. It didn’t sit well in her stomach at all. 

She hoped Y/N and the others would arrive soon so that she could stop worrying.

Like a wish come true, the bell at the door at the entrance jingles and Yeri snaps her head over to see her friends.

However, the smile is quickly wiped off her face when she sees two more people walk in behind them.

Aria and Mia.

“Unbelievable.” Yeri mumbles only loud enough for Mark to hear. He looks over and mirrors Yeri’s frown.

“I don’t like where this is going,” he whispers.

Renjun and Jaemin take their usual seats and Chaewon and Y/N are about to too but the other two girls actually rush in front of them and take their seats. Y/N stumbles a little when Aria bumps her on her way through.

Yeri couldn’t believe what she just saw. She is about to stand up and say something when Mark grabs her hand. When she looks back at him, he just shakes his head. Yeri groans and looks across the table to see Lia trying to calm Haechan down. 

Chaewon reluctantly sits next to Aria and leaves the space next to Jaemin for Y/N. Chaewon gives Y/N a reassuring smile which is returned.

Y/N sits down next to Jaemin and he gives her a big smile which isn’t missed by Aria, along with the rest of the table. The rest of the table also sees the way Aria’s expression darkens at the sight of Y/N and Jaemin together.

This makes Yeri’s blood boil, but at the same time her chest fills with pride knowing that the redhead’s plan kind of backfired today.

Yeji then starts up a conversation to ease the tension, or to make it worse.

“Aria, Mia, how come you both came today?” Yeji asks while feigning an innocent tone. Mia turns around with wide eyes like she’d forgotten there were other people there.

“We heard Renjun and Jaemin talk about how you would all meet up today and well...” she trails off while twirling her hair. “The study sessions have been really fun so we asked if we could come along and Renjun said we could.” She gives Renjun a smile that fails to hide her real intentions. 

The music group all look at Renjun and try to hide how shocked they are. Yeri’s eyes flick over to Chaewon and she feels her heart sink when she sees the auburn haired girl’s somber expression, making her sigh internally.

When they order and their milkshakes arrive, the group fall into their usual chatter.

Chaewon feels sick. Just watching Mia look at Renjun makes her feel so jealous which makes her feel like a terrible person.

‘Maybe I don’t deserve someone like him.’ Chaewon thinks as she looks down at her milkshake. She’s getting so protective just because another girl is talking to Renjun and she isn’t even dating him.

A hand placed on top of Chaewon’s makes the girl look up to meet Y/N’s eyes. 

“Are you okay?” Y/N asks with a concerned look. Chaewon nods and sips at her banana milkshake.

“I’ll be alright,” Chaewon gives Y/N a small smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. Y/N squeezes Chaewon’s hand before she moves to drink her own strawberry milkshake. 

Mia is about to start up a conversation when Renjun jumps in before she has the chance.

“Hey Chaewon, what are you doing after this?” Renjun asks while completely ignoring Mia’s existence which makes Haechan snicker from the other end of the table and catches the attention of the rest of the group. Chaewon feels butterflies pool in her stomach when she meets his eyes. 

She could get easily lost in his deep chocolate eyes that seemed to always sparkle with determination. 

“N-no, I’m not doing anything.” Chaewon shakes her head with a small smile. Renjun returns her smile.

“Want to go for a walk?” he asks and everyone on the table holds in their excitement. Except Mia and Aria of course. Chaewon’s eyes widen in surprise before she nods eagerly, not taking her eyes off Renjun’s. 

Y/N watches the pair with a big smile. She suddenly feels her shoulder get bumped and she turns to see Jaemin looking at her. He leans close to her before whispering into her ear.

“Could this be what I think it is?” he pulls back and looks Y/N in the eye but Y/N is still trying to calm her heart down from him leaning in so close.

“Y-you think? I mean I thought you would know out of anyone.” she says in a hushed tone, as to not attract anyone’s attention. Jaemin stares at her for a second before shrugging, lips pulling up into a smirk.

They all stand outside after paying for their drinks, Aria and Mia trailing behind them which makes Yeri smirk. 

“We’ll meet you back at the house, kay?” Lia says to Chaewon with a wink. Chaewon nods, a small blush making its way onto her cheeks. 

“Look after her Renjun.” Yeri says with a knowing smile. To Aria and Mia, they thought that Yeri just meant that he would bring her home safe. To everyone else, they all knew the real meaning behind it. 

Renjun rolls his eyes but smiles nonetheless and reassures Yeri, and everyone else.

He watches the girls hug Chaewon goodbye as the rest of the guys say goodbye to him. Aria and Mia just stand there awkwardly, which makes Haechan and Yeri want to laugh.

Jaemin comes up to give Renjun a fistbump.

“Goodluck, Injunnie.” he gives him a wink which is returned with two thumbs up.

The group head back to their respective houses after giving a simple wave goodbye to the two girls. They knew at this point that Mia had no chance with Renjun, so there was no point in her staying there anymore.

Renjun and Chaewon watch them all walk away before he turns to Chaewon with a smile on his face. She looks at him and returns his smile nervously. 

“Shall we go?” Renjun asks, smile never leaving his face. Neither does Chaewon’s as she nods quickly. 

Renjun takes Chaewon to the closest park. It was getting late so there were only a couple of kids playing while their parents either sat on a bench to watch their child or chatted with other parents there. 

Upon Chaewon’s puzzled expression, Renjun chuckles and then points towards a pathway leading away from the park. Chaewon’s mouth forms an ‘O’ shape.

The pair walk in silence, save for the sounds of their footfall as well as the distant sounds of bustling city traffic - it was a Friday evening and everyone was trying to get home quickly.

Chaewon had no idea what to say. She was very surprised when Renjun asked her to walk with him. Recently she has been lost in her thoughts often. Thoughts about the very boy standing next to her, as well as thoughts about a specific blonde girl who has been intruding into their friend circle. 

Mia’s attraction towards Renjun is more than obvious and everyone has noticed it, especially Chaewon. She hated to admit it but Mia’s flirting irritated her to no end and what made it worse was that Renjun just let her. Chaewon started to believe that perhaps Renjun liked Mia.

The thought alone made her feel sick to her stomach. She felt like a horrible person for thinking like that, but she couldn’t help it.

“-aewon?” Renjun snapped Chaewon out of her thoughts and they stopped walking. She turned to see a worried look on his face. 

‘Why does he look so upset?’ she wondered, noticing the frown on his face deepen. 

“Renjun, are you okay?” Chaewon asked him which made his face immediately change into one of surprise. He stepped directly in front of her and her cheeks heated up as he lifted his hand up to her face. Renjun moved his hand to her cheek and swiped his thumb underneath her eye. He then pulled away and turned his thumb to where Chaewon could see is now wet. She becomes as surprised as Renjun was seconds ago and her hand flies up to her face where she could confirm that yes, she was crying. 

“I think I should be the one asking if you’re okay.” Renjun almost whispers. Chaewon stared at him for a few seconds before she felt fresh tears rush up. Renjun rushes to pull her into a hug. 

The two stand still as Chaewon cries silently, her face pressed into his chest. He rubs her back gently as she lets out tears. 

Chaewon eventually runs out of tears and she pulls back slightly. Renjun continues to hold her and notices her eyes are now red-rimmed and puffy from crying. 

He frowns slightly, wondering what could have made Chaewon so upset. She won’t even look at him.

“Chaewon, please look at me,” Renjun whispers. She shakes her head and looks away, making Renjun’s frown deepen. 

He moves his hand to her face and gently tips her chin up, forcing Chaewon to look at him. He gives her a reassuring smile.

“You can tell me anything, you know that right?” Renjun tells her. She nods slowly. Chaewon knows that she won’t be able to lie to Renjun or get out of this situation, not that she minded being held by him. But that was beside the point. 

She starts with a shaky voice, momentarily pushing aside her worry. “This w-will sound kind of stupid but I like you a lot Renjun. I’ve liked you for a while and I want to be with you” Chaewon’s face turns as red as Aria’s hair, although she didn’t particularly want to think about the redhead right now. 

She watches as Renjun’s eyes widen before his mouth pulls into a big smile and Chaewon feels her heart skip a beat, albeit knowing that she looked like an absolute mess right now. 

“Chaewon, I like you too and I also want to be with you.” he grins, watching as Chaewon’s eyes fall out of her head in surprise. She noticed how he was still holding her which made her blush even more, if that was possible. 

“Do y-you mean it?” Chaewon stutters, willing away the blush on her face. Renjun’s cheeks are also tinted pink and Chaewon felt slightly less alone. Renjun pulls Chaewon back into a hug which is happily returned.

“Of course I do,” he whispers, and she feels his breath next to her ear, effectively sending a chill up her spine. She continues to smile like an idiot, as did he. It feels like the stars had finally begun to fall in line. 

Renjun pulls away with a slightly puzzled expression, regretting the loss of warmth from holding Chaewon. “That wasn’t why you were crying, was it?” he asks her. Chaewon feels herself heat up again, this time from embarrassment.

“Well, um… Mia, uh.” Chaewon struggles to get the words out but Renjun immediately understands. He isn’t blind, he’d been on the receiving end to Mia’s flirting for a while. He’d also seen how it affects Chaewon, which is why he decided to talk to Chaewon tonight. 

“You were jealous?” Renjun asks with a slightly teasing tone. Chaewon looks like a deer caught in headlights, eyes wide and surprised for the umpteenth time that day. 

“You never stopped her! I thought that maybe… well, you liked her,” she trails off. Renjun feels guilt begin to pool in his stomach. He believed he was simply ignoring the blonde’s moves, but didn’t realise how it would’ve looked for Chaewon. The thought of her liking him makes him feel giddy.

“I’m so sorry. I had no idea that that’s what you thought. It doesn’t matter now, you’re the one I like Chaewon. It’s always been you.” Renjun wants to cringe over how sappy he sounds but he realises that it was exactly what Chaewon needed to hear. 

Chaewon doesn’t say anything, instead she hugs Renjun once more by wrapping her arms around his waist. Renjun returns her affection.

“Does this mean…?” Chaewon trails with an almost whisper, and Renjun smiles and nods. 

“Do you want to be my girlfriend Chaewon?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thankyou so much for 200 hits ! i hope you continue to read the story !


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